The Olivet Discourse -The Foundation of NT Eschatology

Matthew 24-25 serves as the fountain from which virtually all NT eschatology flows.

Paul & Thessalonians

John & Revelation

There are two basic positions (with minor variants) about the “Discourse”

1. The Disciples asked about two subjects. The fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world – the end of the Christian age.

2. Dispensational says Matthew 24 does not even address AD 70.

Setting the Context- Matthew 23 -Jesus’ Temple SpeechMatthew 23:34-39- Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ”

Jesus’ temple speech is the context for the Olivet Discourse!

Setting the Context

What would automatically have come to the apostles’ minds when they heard Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s destruction in Matthew 23?

Their knowledge of history and prophecy would suggest several things:

They knew that the BC 586 destruction of Jerusalem was:The Day of the Lord!

The Presence of the Lord (prosopon- LXX)- Josephus even used Parousia!

The destruction of “heaven and earth”

The coming out of heaven

The coming with a shout

The coming on the clouds

They would have thought of every constituent element that evangelical Christianity associates with the “end of time.” But, they knew that in the BC 586 Day of the Lord, none of these things happened literally, visibly, “physically.”

BC 586 Was the Coming of the Lord!• Zephaniah 1:2-16: “I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land,”

Says the LORD; 3 “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,” Says the LORD. 4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests— 5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; Those who worship and wear oaths by the LORD, But who also swear by Milcom; 6 Those who have turned back from following the LORD, And have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him.” 7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD is at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.”… The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. 15 That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and alarm…”

BC 586 Was the Destruction of Creation!• Jeremiah 4:23-29 - I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form,

and void; And the heavens, they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger. For thus says the LORD: “The whole land shall be desolate; Yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, And the heavens above be black, Because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city shall beforsaken, And not a man shall dwell in it.”

In BC 586- (And earlier) The Lord Came Down Out of Heaven!Micah 1:2-10 (Against Samaria and Jerusalem)- Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple. 3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of His place; He will come down And tread on the high places of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt under Him, And the valleys will split Like wax before the fire, Like waters poured down a steep place. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? 6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, Places for planting a vineyard; I will pour down her stones into the valley, And I will uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; All her idols I will lay desolate, For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”

Isaiah 64:1-4: Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— 2 As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence.”

• Cf. Psalms 18 / Psalms 144:5-8, etc.

When the Lord Came In Vindication of Israel- #1Isaiah 30:27-33 – “Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, Burning with His anger, And His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, And His tongue like a devouring fire. 28 His breath is like an overflowing stream, Which reaches up to the neck, To sift the nations with the sieve of futility; And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, Causing them to err. 29 You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the LORD, To the Mighty One of Israel. 30 The LORD

will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. 32 And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the LORD lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. 33 For Tophet wasestablished of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone.

When the Lord Came In Vindication of Israel #2Isaiah 31:4-9: “For thus the LORD has spoken to me: “As a lion roars, And a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, Hewill not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise), So the LORD of hosts will come down To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. 5 Like birds flying about, So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over, He will preserve it.” 6 Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7 For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves. “Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, And his young men shall become forced labor. 9 He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, And his princes shall be afraid of the banner,” Says the LORD, Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.”

Making the PointJesus – the Second Jeremiah – foretold the coming desolation of Jerusalem, just as his forerunner.

The disciples were intimately aware of the earlier destruction, and the language used to describe that event– and similar events in their history.

Israel even had four fasts commemorating the BC 586 destruction- the Day of the Lord (Zechariah 8; in the 10th, 4th, 5th and 7th months).

To suggest that in Matthew 24 the disciples were asking their questions in total isolation, divorced from their knowledge of the catastrophe of BC 586 – or the language of the prophets in describing that event as the day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord, the presence of the Lord, is untenable and illogical.

So, if the disciples that the fall of Jerusalem in BC 586 was the Day of the Lord, His coming out of heaven, on the clouds, in flaming fire, etc., and yet, He had not come literally, visibly, bodily in that earlier event, what is the basis for claiming that they had an earth burning, time ending event at the end of the Christian age in mind in Matthew 24:3?

In The Glory of the FatherConsider: “The Son of Man will come in the glory of the Father, with his angels, and shall judge every man according to his works, Verily I say to you, there are some standing here that shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

Jesus said his coming, in judgment, to reward all men, was to be “in the glory of the Father”– like the Father had come! How had the Father come?

John 5:21-23- “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”

Jesus would come as the Father had come; He would judge as the Father had judged! This precludes a literal, visible, bodily, physical coming of Christ in

judgment!

Where would / did the disciples in Matthew 24 have any different idea?

An Incredible Irony!Amazingly both Amillennial and Postmillennial commentators agree:

Christ came in AD 70.

He came on the clouds.

He came with the angels

He came with the sound of the Trumpet

He came to gather the elect!

He came at the end of the age!

It is agreed that Matthew 24:29-31 utilizes “typical prophetic language” that is not to be taken literally.

Thus, they agree (by implication) that what the disciples asked about was fulfilled in AD 70!

Yet, they claim that what happened was not what the disciples asked about!

Peter – The Day of the Lord - Isaiah 64- And the Olivet Discourse

The Coming Of The Lord Of 2 Peter 3 Is The Coming Of The Lord To Bring In The New Creation (2 Pet. 3.13).

The Coming Of The Lord Of 2 Peter 3 Was The Coming Of The Lord Foretold In Isaiah 64-66– To Bring In The New Creation.

But, The Coming Of The Lord Of Isaiah 64-66 Was A Coming Of The Lord As The Lord Had Come Before: “When You Came Down, The Mountains Shook, The Nations

Trembled...” (64:1-3)

Therefore, The Coming Of The Lord (the Parousia- Matthew 24:3) Of 2 Peter 3 Would Be A Coming Of The Lord As The Lord Had Come Before: “When You Came Down, The Mountains Shook, The Nations Trembled...”-- A Non-bodily, Non-visible, Historical Day Of The Lord!

Unless the disciples were asking about a radically different Day of the Lord from that foretold in 2 Peter 3 (Isaiah 64-66) – it always assumed that they were asking about the same Day of the Lord - then of necessity, that precludes the Parousia in Matthew 24 from being an earth-burning, time ending event at the end of the Christian age!

Where would the disciples have gotten the idea of an end of time, end of the Christian Age coming of Christ? Where is the OT prophecy of that?

•© 2018 DON K. PRESTON

Assumptions Put On TrialThe common assumption is that the disciples were asking about the “end of time”, end of the Christian age, physical coming of Christ out of heaven, as a 5’5” Jewish man riding on a literal cumulus cloud.

To establish this assumption, one has to ignore key Biblical truths:

1. The Disciples knew of the BC 586 Destruction of the Temple, and knew that time did not end, the literal, physical creation was not destroyed.

2. The Disciples were intimately familiar with the OT use of “Apocalyptic language”– language that sounds like “end of time” but, which cannot be construed literally without doing violence to that language. It was invariably metaphoric, highly wrought, language to describe God’s actions within history–never to end world history.

3. The Disciples knew that the Jerusalem Temple did NOT represent the Christian Age! It was the very expression of the Law of Moses.

They thus knew that the destruction of Jerusalem was to be the end of that age-not the end of the Christian age.

Assumptions Found Wanting!The futurist view of the Disciples’ questions is based on faulty assumptions that cannot be proven:1. The disciples clearly knew that time / creation did not end in BC 586.

2. To prove that they had the end of the Christian age / time in mind, one must prove –definitively- that either:

A. The disciples knew of OT prophecies of the end of time / Christian age and had those prophecies in mind in Matthew 24:3,… or,B. They were ignoring the OT definition of the Day of the Lord and the metaphoric interpretation of “Day of the Lord” language, or …C. They knew of the metaphoric use of the OT Day of the Lord language, but, in their mind and question, they were not interpreting that language literally.D. They knew of a previous prophecy of Jesus that foretold the end of time / Christian age and had that prophecy in mind when they asked about the destruction of the temple.

3. To sustain the traditional view, it must be proven that although the disciples knew that the Temple did not represent the New Covenant age, they were nonetheless thinking of that when they asked their questions!None of these things can be sustained! The fact is that the traditional futurist views of Matthew 24:3 are fundamentally flawed.

That means the disciples were asking about one thing: The Coming of Christ, at the end of the Old Covenant Age of Israel– in AD 70.

One Subject or Two: A Critical QuestionBasic assumptions:

#1- The Disciples were asking about Jesus’ physical, bodily coming at the end of time– the end of the Christian age.

a. Where would the disciples have gotten the idea of a literal, bodily, physical coming of Christ?

b. Where would the disciples have gotten the idea of the end of the Christian age?

#2- The disciples were confused and mistakenly linked the coming of Christ and the end of the (Christian) age with the fall of the Temple

• 1.) Dispensationalist Thomas Ice says: “The disciples apparently thought that all three items, destruction of the Temple, the sign of Christ' s coming, and the end of the age would occur at the same time. Yet this is not the cas.”(www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/AnInterpretationofMatthew24_25_2.html). Ice cites other Dispensationalists that likewise affirm that the disciples were mistaken or confused.

• 2.) Amillennialist Kim Riddlebarger, says, “It would be quite natural for the disciples to wrongly assume that the end of the age and the destruction of Jerusalem would be the same event. But this assumption may not be correct, for the destruction of temple, cataclysmic as it would be, was not the end of the age, nor did the Lord return in AD 70.” (Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism, (Grand Rapids; Baker, 2003), 161).

• 3.) Postmillennialist Keith Mathison says: “The disciples’ question indicates that in their mind the destruction of temple and the close of the redemptive history are closely related in time. They do not conceive of any significant temporal delay between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of redemptive history. Jesus’ response to their question, however, indicates that their understanding is in need of some correction.” (Keith Mathison, From Age To Age, The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology, (Philippsburg, NJ; P and R Publishing, 2009), 372).

Were the Disciples Confused, Or, Just Simply Wrong?

We know that the disciples were, in fact, confused about much of Jesus’ teaching:

Matthew 15:17- About what defiles a man

Mark 4- In regard to the parable of the soils- “If you don’t understand this, how will you understand all of the parables?

Matthew 16- Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

John 14- “Lord, show us the Father”– “Have I been so long with you, and you do not understand??

He criticized them for not understanding what he said about his impending death and resurrection (Mark 9:32; Luke 24:25f; John 14).

So, while the disciples assuredly were often confused, or mistaken, the question is, How do we know they were confused all of those times?

We know because the text says so, because Jesus said so

Where does it say they were confused in the Discourse? It doesn’t!

Jesus, the Disciples and the End of the Age • Matthew 13:39-43

The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus was teaching about the end of the age- (not the end of the world / not the end of time!)- and used a form of the same distinctive Greek term (suntelieaaionos) that the disciples later asked about in Matthew 24:3.

Jesus said that the end of the age would be when the righteous would shine forth in the kingdom– a direct citation of Daniel 12:3

Daniel, Jesus and the End of the AgeDaniel 12:1-4 - “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.”

Daniel foretold the Great Tribulation- which Jesus posited for his generation

Daniel foretold the resurrection- which is the harvest

Daniel foretold the time of the end; in the LXX it is the suntelia- just like in Matthew 13:39!

Daniel foretold the righteous shining in the kingdom- Jesus did as well.

All of these things were to be fulfilled “When the power of the holy people is completely shattered” (Daniel 12:7)

Jesus, Daniel and the End of the AgeJesus’ prophecy of the end of the age and harvest, when the righteous would shine in the kingdom is the reiteration of the prophecy of Daniel 12.

But, the prophecy of Daniel 12 posited the end of the age and harvest, when the righteous would shine in the kingdom, at the time when the power of the holy people would be completely shattered (Daniel 12:7).

Therefore, Jesus’ prophecy of the end of the age and harvest, when the righteous would shine in the kingdom, would be fulfilled when the power of the holy people would be completely shattered.

Israel’s power– her only power – was her covenant relationship with God!

Do You Understand These Things?After teaching the disciples about his coming, the harvest and the end of the age, in Matthew 13:51 Jesus asked his disciples: “Have you understood all of these things?” They said “Yes.” This is a critical question for it has a direct bearing on our understanding of the eschatology of Jesus and particularly Matthew 24.

• Matthew 13 and Matthew 24 are about the end of the age. The same basic distinctive Greek term is used in both texts. Both passages speak of the gathering (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 24:31). Both passages are dealing with God’s promises to Israel and the fate of Israel. Daniel 12 emphatically posits the kingdom, the gathering, the resurrection / harvest at the time of Israel’s destruction. Jesus directly alludes to Daniel 12:3. Jesus then asked the disciples if they understood what he had said, and they affirmed that they did!

• Now, did the disciples know that Daniel 12 foretold the end of the age? Who can deny that? Did they understand that Daniel foretold the resurrection? It can hardly be missed. Did they comprehend that there was a direct connection between the end of the age, the kingdom, the resurrection, and the destruction of Israel, as Daniel so clearly states? Well, they said they understood what Jesus was saying! And Jesus was citing Daniel’s prophecy of the end, the resurrection and the destruction of Israel.

• If the end of the age in Matthew 13 is the end of the age in Daniel 12, then the end of the age in Matthew 13 would be when Israel’s covenant “power” was shattered- came to an end.

• If the end of the age in Matthew 13 is the end of the age in Matthew 24, then the end of the age of Matthew 24 would be when Israel’s covenant “power” was shattered- came to an end.

The disciples said they understood what Jesus said about the end of the age in Matthew 13.

Do you understand? – Yes!The disciples said they understood what Jesus said about the end of the age in Matthew 13.

But Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 13 is drawn from Daniel 12 which predicted the end of the age when Israel was shattered.

Therefore, unless the disciples lied about understanding Jesus’ discourse about the end of the age in Matthew 13– and its undeniable connection to Daniel 12– then unless it can be definitively proven that they did in fact not understand what Jesus said in Matthew 13, it is prima facie evident that the disciples were not confused to connect the destruction of the Temple with the end of the age!

Did the disciples lie in Matthew 13 when they said they understood Jesus’ appeal to Daniel about the end of the age?

Did the disciples forget what Jesus said in Matthew 13 when they asked their questions in Matthew 24? Even if they had somehow forgotten it, that does not invalidate the actual connection between the end of the age and the destruction of Israelfound in Daniel / Matthew 13!

Did the disciples misapply Jesus’ application of Daniel, in Matthew 13? What is the proof of that? Daniel and Matthew 13 are predictive of the end of Israel’s age at the time of her destruction. The end of that age at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple is what prompted the disciples’ questions in Matthew 24. So, where would the misapplication be?

Did the disciples not understand what Jesus said in Matthew 16:27-28? Was the disciples’ understanding of Jesus’ teaching worse than that of the Pharisees in Matthew 21, so much so that although the Pharisees understood that Jesus was speaking of their impending judgment at the coming of the Lord, the disciples just did not get it? Did the disciples not comprehend Jesus’ emphatic declaration of the coming judgment of the city that had killed the prophets? How dense were Jesus’ disciples?

MATTHEW 13 MATTHEW 16:27-28

PAROUSIA (V. 39) PAROUSIA (V. 27)

WITH THE ANGELS (39F) WITH THE ANGELS (27)

GATHERING GATHERING

ISRAEL’S PROMISES ISRAEL’S PROMISES

JUDGMENT JUDGMENT

KINGDOM KINGDOM

AD 70– DANIEL 12:3, 7!! SOME STANDING HERE!

Matthew 13 and Matthew 24- Who Was ConfusedIn Matthew 13:39f Jesus spoke of the coming “end of the age” (sunteleia aionos) when the righteous would shine as the stars in the kingdom.

When the disciples asked about the end of the age in Matthew 24:3 they used a form of the identical Greek term (sunteleias tees aionos).

Unless there were to be two end of the ages, then the disciples were asking about the same end of the age in Matthew 24 as Jesus instructed them about in chapter 13.

In Matthew 13 he told them the end would be the fulfillment of Daniel, which would be when Israel’s “power” was shattered.

In Matthew 24 they were asking for a sign of when this would be.

These are not two distinct events. This is not two different ends of two different ages!

When the disciples said they understood, it is the height of arrogance to say that they did not understand.

When he explained that the end would be in fulfillment of Daniel, it is misguided to claim that he was talking about something totally unrelated to the destruction of Israel’s power!

What Shall Be the Sign of the End of the Age?Fact: The disciples asked about the end of the age—not the end of the kosmos- not the end of time!

The Jewish concept of the ages:

There were two overarching ages

The Age of Moses and the Law- This is what they called “this age.”

The Age of Messiah and the New Covenant- This was called “the age to come.”

The Age of Moses and the Law was supposed to end

The Age of Messiah and the New Covenant was to never end; It would have “no end!”

If the disciples shared this common view of the ages, then they would not have been asking about the end of the New Covenant Age of Christ anyway!

Why would they link the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple with the end of the endless Christian age – especially when the Christian age had not even begun yet?

What Age Did the Jerusalem Temple Represent?

Matthew 16:27-28 Matthew 24:29-34 Matthew 25:31f

Coming of the Son of Man Coming of the Son of Man Coming of the Son of Man

With the angels With the angels With the angels

Coming in glory Coming in glory Then shall he sit on the

throne of his glory

In judgment / reward Coming in Judgment--

gathering

Gathering of the nations

Coming in the kingdom Coming in the kingdom (Luke

21:28-31)

Enter thou the kingdom

Some standing here This generation What is the difference! We

must know!! 41-3

But of That Day And Hour No Man KnowsMatthew 24:36 has been called the “Continental Divide” of the Olivet Discourse.

Up to that verse, Jesus spoke of “those days” but now, he speaks of “that day and hour.”

No one knows that day, not the angels, not the son, but the Father (Mark 13 version)

This supposedly demands that he was changing the subject from his coming in judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70, to the end of the Christian age (which has no end anyway!)

This overlooks Zechariah 14- a prediction of AD 70- which the prophet said was a day known the Lord!

I suggest that this overlooks the Festal reference found in the language!

Rosh HaShanah– the feast concerning which “no man knows the day or the hour!”

Most of all, it overlooks Jesus’ teaching on the Revelatory Spirit

“That Day” and the Revelatory Spirit• When Jesus spoke those words he did not know – only the Father knew the time

of Christ’s coming.

• John 16:7-13:

• Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

• When the Spirit was given, He would guide the Apostles into knowledge of “things to come” and things concerning the judgment!

That Day and the Revelatory Spirit - #2

When the Spirit was given, He would guide the Apostles into knowledge of “things to come” and things concerning the judgment!

Every one of the epistles was written after the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost– Acts 2.

What did those apostles, inspired by the Spirit, sent by the Father who knew the time of Christ’s coming, say about the coming Day of the Lord?

See Doug Wilkinson’s book, Parousia Time Statements where he chronicles over 300 time indicators of imminence in the NT– over 300!

Romans 13:11-12- ”And do this, knowing the time, (Kairos– appointed time) that now it is (the hour; the hour) high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand.”

How did Paul know what time it was? How did he know what “HOUR” it was?

The Father, Revelation, The Son and The DayThe Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God (The Father who knew the day and the hour) gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly (en tachei) take place. And He (the Father who knew the day and the hour) sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

Revelation is the unveiling of Christ and the Day of the Lord – his coming in judgment.

The Father, who knew the Day and the Hour of that event, was revealing that time to Christ, who revealed that to reveal it to the angel, so that the angel could then reveal the Father’s will to John and the churches. What did the Father reveal?

These things must (dei) shortly (en tachei) come to pass

The appointed time is at hand

The Hermeneutic of AnachronismMatthew 24:36 is the lynch-pin for the dual application of the Olivet Discourse.

If Jesus was not changing the subject in verse 36 there is no “continental divide”– the Discourse is about one subject– the coming of Christ at the end of the Old Covenant age of Moses and the Law!

Jesus did not know the day and the hour of that end when he spoke the discourse–although he did know the generation.

But, his promise that the Father would send the Spirit to guide the apostles into the truth about the future “things to come” events concerning the judgment had not taken place when he spoke those words!

Even in Acts 1, when Jesus told his disciples “it is not for you to know the times and the seasons” he immediately told them of the impending coming of the Revelatory Spirit–who was to guide them into knowledge of the day of the Lord!

When that Spirit was given, those apostles, inspired by the Father, said “the coming of the Lord has drawn near”– “the end of all things has drawn near”- “in a very, very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay!”

To apply Matthew24:36 to those Post Pentecost, Post reception of the Spirit, is a Hermeneutic of Anachronism. It is simply wrong! What was true when Jesus spoke those words in Matthew, was no longer true when the Spirit was given by the Father!